Apple to design its own chips?

 

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By Barry Collins and Reuters

Posted on 30 Apr 2009 at 07:46

Apple is hiring employees from the semiconductor industry and building the capability to design its own chips, according to reports.

The company hopes its efforts will lead to new features for its devices and enable it to share fewer details about it plans with outside chip vendors, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The famously secretive company has struggled to keep a lid on new product announcements, such as the iPhone 3G and iPod touch, details of which leaked before the official Apple launches.

An Apple spokesman confirmed the company has hired both Bob Drebin, former chief technology office of the graphics products group at AMD, and Raja Koduri, who previously held the same position. The spokesman declined to comment further. Drebin's LinkedIn page lists him as a senior director at Apple.

Apple has been hiring engineers to create multifunction chips for the iPhone, the Journal report claims. Sources familiar with Apple's plans don't expect internally designed chips to emerge until next year at the earliest.

Last year, Apple acquired PA Semi, a designer of low-power microchips, in a move analysts said bolstered its ability to customise key parts for its iPhone, iPod and Mac product lines.

If Apple does decide to move processor design in-house it could be bad news for British chip firm ARM, which designs the processors for the iPhone and iPod touch.